INSTALLATION OF BEDS. 87 



INSTALLATION OF BEDS. 



In making the beds, as well as in other phases of mushroom work, 

 regard must he had for all environmental conditions. The type of 

 bed should be determined by convenience, and the size, to a cer- 

 tain extent, by the temperature to which the beds may be exposed. 

 The flat bed. frequently referred to as the English type, is more 

 commonly employed in the indoor work in England and America. 

 With this type merely the entire floor space may be utilized, as illus- 

 trated in the frontispiece, Plate I. or the beds may be arranged in 

 tiers of shelves. In figure 1 on Plate V a view may be had of the 

 supports for shelf beds in a large commercial houce. In this house 

 there is the greatest economy of space. The shelf system gives the 

 greatest amount of bed space and is certainly most economical where 

 the floor space is an important factor. Such beds do not require 

 great depth, but merely sufficient to insure an ample development of 

 spawn. They should be from 8 to 10 inches deep after being firmed 

 or compressed. s 



The ridge-bsd system is employed almost exclusively m the caves 

 about Paris. This system is also in use in open-air culture. It may 

 be used to advantage in low cellars, caves, or houses when labor is 

 not too expensive. Ridge beds increase slightly the surface area and 

 permit of easy passage from one part of the cave to another. The 

 size of such beds in caves, or under other conditions where the tem- 

 perature remains practically uniform, should be not more than 2 feet 

 wide at the base and 15 inches high, tapering gradually to the top 

 when compressed. Slanting beds are commonly employed next to 

 the walls. Large beds are desirable under changeable open-air 

 conditions. 



The prevalent opinion among amateurs that the bed should ahvays 

 be deep enough to maintain a considerable heat is believed to be erro- 

 neous. Grown under more or less uniform conditions, mushrooms 

 seem to require no bottom heat, and the bed should fall to the tem- 

 perature of the room some time after spawning. Bottom heat, and 

 hence large beds, are, however, desirable when sudden changes of 

 weather would so reduce the temperature of the bed as to delay 

 growth. Under similar conditions, as well as in dry air, mulching 

 may be required. 



As previously stated by the writer in Farmers' Bulletin No. 204 

 of the Department of Agriculture — 



111 any case, the manure is made up in the form of the bed desired and should 

 he finned, or fomiiressed. to some extent immediately, in order to prevent dry- 

 ing out and burning when the secondary fermentation takes place. At this time 

 the manure should be neither wet mir <lry. but merely iiinist. The only prac- 

 tical test of the proper moisture content of the manure which can l>e relied upon 

 is when, upon compression, water can not readily be squeezed out of it. 



